


Matched Set

by PeroxidePirate



Series: the Pink Pearl [4]
Category: Provost's Dog - Tamora Pierce, Tortall - Pierce
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-12
Updated: 2010-04-12
Packaged: 2017-10-08 21:58:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeroxidePirate/pseuds/PeroxidePirate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alanna's thoughts as she watches Kel and Sabine sparring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Squire Sabine had been reluctant to take part in the exhibition. Her knight-master, Queen Thayet and Squire Keladry had, in coalition, convinced her.

Alanna sat in the second row, among a crowd of nobles and commoners alike, watching the two girls. They were are as alike as a pair of candlesticks (and Alanna gave up hope of ever being tall enough to look any other knight in the eye). It was obvious from the way they moved, the give and take, that they had trained in the same program and practiced together often. Their sparring was a sight to behold, and Alanna's heart swelled with pride.


	2. Chapter 2

Keladry tilted with lead in her behind, as the saying went, while Sabine was better with a sword (and Alanna thanked the Goddess at least one of them favored a real knight's weapon). During the fencing exhibition, Keladry held her own for a while. Then she began to lose ground to the older squire. Sabine lunged past Keladry's guard, and there was a clatter, metal skittering over the earth floor of the arena. Keladry was down, the tip of Sabine's dull practice sword pointed at her throat.

The crowd began to cheer. Alanna, too, got to her feet.

Sabine sheathed her sword and hauled Keladry up. The two lifted their joined hands and bowed, first facing their monarchs, and then in each of the other directions. The cheering never stopped.

Their skill was impressive. The way they moved, in harmony even in opposition, was beautiful. Alanna hadn't seen the like since she herself sparred with Prince Jonathan, when he was her knight-master and her lover.

That thought stopped Alanna where she stood.


	3. Chapter 3

Alanna watched the two squires leave the arena, noticing a quick touch of Sabine's hand at Keladry's waist, and then Keladry leaning over to whisper in Sabine's ear. No, she wasn't imagining it. They were lovers, and probably had been for some time.

There was nothing wrong with it, of course. They were free women, neither married nor betrothed. Sabine was in her last year as a squire, Keladry in her second: they were of an age to make their own decisions. If they decided to go to bed together, it was not Alanna's business, or anyone else's.

But, Alanna thought ruefully, a preference for other women was one of several things of which she – and by extension, all lady warriors – had been unjustly accused for the past twenty years. If it was true, in the case of her successors, the conservatives were never going to let any of them live it down.


End file.
